


like this.

by warptimeandspace



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: After Party, Bisexual Jack, Coming Out, M/M, Post 3.26, leaving your friends to clean up the trash because really? they deserve it, polaroids, press confrences, protective dad bob, self betaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 21:18:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13198749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warptimeandspace/pseuds/warptimeandspace
Summary: “Do you think the NHL is ready for players to start coming out?”“I think it has to be,” Jack says. “The NHL has been around for a hundred years. I think that there’s been more than enough time for the league to get ready.”or, the aftermath of 3.26





	like this.

 

 

It happens like this.

At ten thirty-five on June fourteen Jack Zimmermann leans down to kiss Eric Bittle at center ice after winning his first Stanley Cup.

Within seconds there is a wave of noise that hits them and Jack automatically knows that they’re on camera.

“Hey,” Bitty says, “Look at me,”

Jack looks.

Bitty has both of his arms around Jack’s neck, pulling him down just a little and Jack knows he’s hating Jack’s skates for giving him the extra inches right now. His face is flushed with victory and also probably the fact that Jack just kissed him on national television. He’s scared, Jack knows it, but he doesn’t look it.

Jack loves him so, so much.

“I’ve got you,” Bitty says, “You got me?”

Jack presses a firm kiss to Bitty’s forehead, “Always,” He says.

Bob rushes towards them and Jack grabs Bitty’s hand as they step apart. His hands are sticky with the sweat from his gloves but Bitty doesn’t comment on it like he usually does, instead just squeezing Jack’s hand.

For a moment Jack is irrationally terrified that his father will be furious with them, that he’ll reprimand them for coming out, that he’ll do something awful. Jack’s parents have always been good to him but he hasn’t ever been able to let go of the idea that someday, he’ll do something they consider too much trouble and toss him away.

Bob snags Bitty by his wrist and Jack by his shoulder and wraps them both in the tightest hug Jack has ever experienced. He almost stumbles but wraps an arm around his father’s shoulder to steady himself.

“I am so damn proud of you,” Bob says, “Both of you, I’m so proud.”

If Bitty lets out a breath that sounds a little bit like a sob, nobody comments on it. Jack rubs the back of Bitty’s hand in smooth, circular motions.

This is a hell of a way to come out.

Bob lets them go but stands close as if his presence itself could protect them from the world.

Bitty huffs. “Giants,” He says, fondly leaning his head against Jack’s arm. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I don’t know,” Jack says, “Keep us, hopefully.”

Bitty presses a kiss into Jack’s shoulder and it makes Jack feel light and bright.

 

Jack is already a little drunk by the time he gets back to his apartment for the biggest fucking party of his life.

He’s drunk on Bitty, grabbing him by the front of his jersey and kissing him and telling him to enjoy every damn second, you deserve it and drunk on the way he felt when he walked into the locker room and his teammates lost their fucking minds because Jack? Jack is MVP. Jack got the game winner. Jack just came out on national TV and every single sports reporter ever just lost their total shit.

Jack is also a little drunk because he is the first to get the honor to drink from The Cup and get completely drenched in overpriced champagne.

The party itself? Jack doesn’t remember a lot of it. Not because he’s shitfaced, but just because so much happens that it all blurs together. That’s okay though, he documented it thoroughly.

To start with, there is an intensely competitive beer pong tournament goes on forever and for once it’s not Lardo who wins, it’s Alicia. Lardo graciously admits defeat as Tater holds Alicia’s arms in the air, cheering loudly.

It’s an interesting polaroid, that’s for sure.

He also takes snapshots of Shitty laying on top of the pool table to take his shot, nearly naked as he had stripped down to his boxers the moment he stepped in the door. The shot doesn’t go in. Jack then took a picture of Shitty grieving his mad, mad pool game while also cursing everything Tater stood for. There are Polaroids of Holster loudly singing “Ode to a Falconer” while Ransom serves as his hypeman and there are many, many, many selfies, where the camera was briefly stolen from Jack’s hands for the duration of a photograph.

Jack did willingly hand the camera off to Lardo for a while and you can obviously tell which photos are hers because Jack is in most of them. There’s a photo of him sitting on the counter while Bitty tipsily bakes peanut butter cookies _because of the protein, Mr. Zimmermann_ and a ton where Jack overly formally asks Bitty to dance and they end up slow dancing to P!nk, then Drake, then Beyoncé, Beyoncé, _Beyoncé_.

There’s also a polaroid of Bitty flipping off Lardo as Jack fireman carries him to their room, but Jack isn’t really the focus of that one.

 

Jack gets a whopping hour and thirty-two minutes of sleep the night he wins the Stanley Cup, which is probably more than most of his other teammates got. He would have slept longer, potentially for days, if not for the frantic knocking on his front door. He stumbles out of his bedroom and dodges the mass of humans sleeping on his floor to grab the door.

It’s George.

“George,” He says because he can’t think of anything else to say that sounds remotely important.

“You haven’t been answering your phone,” George says flatly.

“It’s off.” Jack says, “I was getting calls from--” He trails off, “Everyone. I don’t even know where it is right now.”

George sighs. “You’re very late,” she says. “Get dressed. I can only hold the press off for so long.”

Jack nods because he knows that George is right, but he hesitates. He feels frozen. Jack wishes he could stay in this state of limbo he’s hovering in right now. He’s out, sort of, but he hasn’t had to talk to anyone. He’s happy, but that’s because he’s spent the night feeling unbearably loved.

“Jack,” George says, “Whatever happens we have you, okay?”

Jack’s chest feels painfully tight like his chest is being compressed by a vise, but he nods.

“Just a sec,” He says.

Jack wakes up Bitty, not because he expects him to do anything but because he knows that unexpectedly waking up to an empty bed freaks him out.

“You’re what?” Bitty asks again, rubbing his eyes. “Go slower.”

“I’m going in for press.” Jack says, “George came to get me. You can go back to sleep, I just thought you’d want to know.”

Bitty blinks slowly as he processes the information given to him.

“I’m coming with,” He says as he crawls out of bed.

“You’re what?” Jack asks.

“Coming with,” Bitty says as he flips the light switch on and searches for clean clothes. “We did this together. I’m not going to let you go alone.”

The pressure in Jack’s chest eases some, just enough that he feels like he can get a full breath. “You’re not going to let me?” He asks, a smile creeping across his face.

Bitty gives him a look. “Don’t you start Jack Zimmermann,” He says. “Grab me my blue hoodie from the closet. Also here’s your heads up: I’m stealing your baseball cap and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

 

It happens like this.

At eight forty-nine on the morning of June fifteenth Jack sits in a press conference surrounded by Falconers as he is assaulted by questions by dozens of reporters.

All of the noise sort of blurs together, there are stray shouted questions from new reporters who have somehow weaseled their way into the press room and there is a rumble of mumbling as old hands talk amongst themselves waiting for the room to be brought to order.

Jack thinks that his parents will probably be watching. There has not been a day in Jack’s entire life that his mother has slept past eight-thirty in the morning and she wouldn’t let Bob sleep through this.

Jack has no idea if Bitty’s parents will be watching. He doesn’t know if he wants them to.

“Zimmboni!”

Jack turns. Tater is holding his hand in front of his face conspiratory as he whisper-shouts to Jack like he doesn’t want anyone with a camera to try to read his lips.

“Tater you’re sitting right next to me, I don’t think you need to yell.”

Tater smirks and cups his hands around his mouth. He takes a deep breath but is prevented from making any noise by George’s mere presence.

She walks in with Tom, the Falconer’s GM, and they both sit down.

“Alright,” She says and the room grows perfectly still. “Kristin, why don’t you go first.”

Kristin straightens up. “Kristin Lee, ESPN. I have a question for Jack Zimmermann.”

 

The questions are endless. It quickly becomes evident that this is Jack’s press conference and some of the guys that don’t know him as well leave. Jack isn’t alone though, Tater stays, lounging almost carelessly in the chair beside Jack. So do Marty, Thirdy, and Guy though they do sit up like they’ve been told to do.

“Jack, are you gay?”

“No--” Jack says.

There’s a rise in the rumbling as Jack raises his hands in a placating motion.

“Calm down,” He says and he prays that the cameras can’t see that his hands are shaking. “You didn’t let me finish. I’m not gay, I’m bisexual.”

“Why did you do it?”

“Why did I kiss my boyfriend?” Jack clarifies, “For the same reason that everyone else on the ice was kissing their partners. We’d just won the Stanley Cup. I wanted to share it with him.”

“Can you confirm that it was Eric Bittle on the ice with you, your former NCAA teammate?”

Jack nods. “Yeah, it was Bits.”

“And the two of you are dating?”

“Yes,” Jack says, “For a little over a year. We’re very happy.”

“Do you think the NHL is ready for players to start coming out?”

“I think it has to be,” Jack says. “The NHL has been around for a hundred years. I think that there’s been more than enough time for the league to get ready.”

 

Jack and Bitty decide to leave town, just for a little while.

Providence is hockey town and as much as Jack loves living there he cannot go three steps without hearing people whisper his name. It’s more than the Cup buzz that had planned for, with people who aren’t hockey fans talking about _that sports guy who came out last night_.

They have to wait for things to die down, just a little. In a week or two something more newsworthy than Jack and Bitty will happen, something a more prominent person does that people think is more interesting. They just have to wait for that moment.

Alicia suggests Pittsburgh because Bitty’s passport is back buried in a box in the Haus and there is no way in hell that they’d be able to get to it.

Pittsburgh is good though. It’s still a city unnaturally obsessed with hockey but if Jack and Bitty stay confined to the house things will probably settle down. Bob and Alicia offer to meet them there, to open up the house for them, and to brave the supermarket so they don’t have to.

When Jack and Bitty get back to their apartment to hastily shove clothes into duffle bags their guests are still asleep. It’s after eleven.

“I’m sort of mad at them,” Bitty whispers. “Like, if we’re awake they should be too.”

“You would never wake them.” Jack says, because he knows Bitty, “You would feel awful afterward.”

Bitty nods in agreement as he rolls up tee shirts to shove in his bag. “I suppose you’re right.”

Before they leave Jack writes a note on the microwave using a dry erase marker.

LEAVING TOWN. CLEAN UP THE TRASH AND LOCK THE DOOR BEFORE YOU LEAVE.

“You’re going to have them clean up our garbage?” Bitty asks with a grin.

Jack shrugs. “They’re the ones still sleeping. It’s their problem now.”

Bitty fishes his phone out of his pocket. He frowns at the screen as he turns it back on, seeing the notifications from the missed calls. He sets it on the table next to Shitty’s hand, close enough that when it inevitably rings, he’ll be able to pick it up.

“Are you sure you don’t want to bring it with?” Jack asks. “You don’t have to talk to your parents until you’re ready.”

“I’m not trying to put it off,” Bitty says, “I’m going to call them when we get there. I just want to be disconnected, you know?”

“I know,” Jack says. “I’ve got you.”

Bitty smiles. “You ready?” He asks. He reaches out his free hand with his fingers spread wide, ready to walk out the door together.

Jack kisses him, quick and soft. Bitty drops the duffle bag he had been holding and reaches up to frame Jack’s face with his hands.

“I’m ready,” Jack says. “Let’s go.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> hello absolutely everyone i missed my hockey comic. my kids did so good.  
> this was researched, but only sort of so please don't call me out for the press conference being wrong i already know it is and i've stared at it too long to fix it.  
> also while i am gay i'm not an athlete and i'm not a guy so i hope i did jack's coming out scene justice. it always makes me a little nervous to tackle things like that.  
> my check please sideblog is [here](https://softfordfoxtrot.tumblr.com/) and my main is [here](https://warptimeandspace.tumblr.com/) (for if you care about hockey, cartoons, and gay culture)


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